Korona trouble - Curt Lewis

British Airways sacks 350 pilots and puts 300 in 'pool' for rehire June 28 (Reuters) - British Airways, which has said it needs to cut 12,000 jobs and proposed pay cuts for cabin crew, has reached a deal with its pilots that will see 350 laid off and another 300 put in a 'pool' for rehiring when needed, The Sun on Sunday reported here Captains and first officers placed in the pool do not currently have an aircraft to operate and will remain on half-pay, the report said, while all other operating flight crew will take a 15% pay cut. Once 'pooled' pilots return, operating flight crew members will get 7.5% of their deducted pay back, while the rest of the pay cut will be lost, the report added. The majority of pilots being 'pooled' will be Boeing 747 jumbo jet first officers. British Airways, owned by International Consolidated Airlines Group, which also owns Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling, said in an emailed statement that "constructive talks are ongoing with (UK pilots union) BALPA to save as many jobs as possible." BALPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters reported last week that British Airways has made a proposal to its cabin crew on pay cuts. The airline plans to lay off a quarter of its pilots. Planes were grounded in March by lockdowns to curb the coronavirus pandemic, tipping the industry into crisis. https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-iag-pilots/british-airways-sacks-350-pilots-and-puts-300-in-pool-for-rehire-the-sun-idUSL3N2E50AG Back to Top

Delta could furlough more than 2,500 pilots, will downsize flight attendant bases This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. For an explanation of our Advertising Policy, visit this page. Delta Air Lines is offering more details on its plans to shrink as the coronavirus pandemic continues to take a big bite of its business, warning thousands of pilots of possible furloughs and closing flight attendant bases across the country. The Atlanta-based carrier intends to notify 2,558 pilots of possible furloughs in the coming weeks, Delta senior vice president of flight operations John Laughter told staff in a memo on June 26 viewed by TPG. The furloughs will occur after the employment protections under the federal government's coronavirus aid package, or CARES Act, sunset on Sept. 30. CNBC first reported on the furlough notices that will be sent to some of Delta's roughly 13,000 pilots. Other major U.S. carriers, including American Airlines and United Airlines, are expected to follow Delta's lead and warn staff of layoffs or furloughs in the coming weeks. Under federal rules, the airlines must give workers 60 days notice - or by early August for an October furlough. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and Association of Flight Attendants-CWA are both pushing to get the U.S. Congress to extend the worker protections under the CARES Act. ALPA represents pilots at Delta and a number of other carriers. The layoffs are in preparation for what many in the industry expect a years-long recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has warned that domestic flying may not return to 2019 levels until 2022, and international flying until 2024. In addition to the pilot reductions, Delta will downgrade its flight attendant bases in Cincinnati (CVG), Honolulu (HNL) and San Francisco (SFO) to a remote status, the airline's senior vice president of in-flight service Allison Ausband told cabin crews in a separate memo on June 26. While no longer officially bases per Delta's own guidelines, a select number of cabin crewmembers - around 80 in Cincinnati and Honolulu - will be able to continue to begin and end trips in the cities after the transition. However, the availability of similar remote statuses for Delta flight attendants in Chicago, San Diego and Tampa will end, said Ausband. She did not provide a timeline for any of the changes. The downgraded statuses are not expected to impact Delta's flying from any of the cities for the foreseeable future, though much about the trajectory of the recovery remains unknown. However, the fate of Delta's former hub in Cincinnati may be sealed. The airline unveiled plans to close its pilot base there in May leaving the city - once its sole Midwestern hub - with no official Delta base, just the remote status for flight attendants. "The unprecedented challenges of COVID-19 have impacted our business and people in ways we never could have imagined," said Ausband. "It pains me to be talking about an in-flight landscape where we're shrinking in size and footprint; however, we know it's the right, but difficult thing to do to help our company weather this storm." Ultra low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines has already announced expanded service from Cincinnati on five routes beginning in July. The discounter's CEO Barry Biffle recently told TPG in an exclusive interview that the carrier plans to grow out of the crisis. Every U.S. carrier faces serious challenges from the pandemic. In April, the industry as a whole flew less than 20% of what it flew a year ago amid unprecedented flying reductions aimed to stem losses as most would-be travelers stayed home, according to data from trade group Airlines for America (A4A). Still, financial losses surpassed $100 million a day at the worst-hit carriers. While some leisure travelers have returned, the industry still faces the prospect of a multi-year recovery. Discounters like Frontier and Spirit Airlines that fly mostly holidaygoers have seen the largest share of their flyers return. At the same time, major carriers American, Delta and United that rely more on business travel are seeing a more muted recovery. Delta has taken a conservative approach to the recovery. In addition to repeatedly warning staff of furloughs or layoffs to come, executives have said the airline only plans to be flying about half of what it flew at the end of 2019 this December. However, the recent rise in COVID-19 infections in some southern and western states may slow this. In preparing for this smaller future, Delta has retired its McDonnell Douglas MD-88 and MD-90 jets, and will remove its Boeing 777s sometime this fall. "Things were starting to improve but then what happened, the virus," Delta CEO Ed Bastian told staff during a virtual town hall on June 25 viewed by TPG. "We'll continue to stay, as best we can, ahead of the virus." Delta hopes to be breaking even financially by the end of the year. However, to get there executives have said it must reduce costs in line with being a smaller airline. https://thepointsguy.com/news/delta-pilot-furlough-closing-flight-attendant-bases/ Back to Top

Spanish airline Iberia will downsize due to coronavirus: CEO BARCELONA (Reuters) - Spanish airline Iberia will reduce the size of its fleet, the number of destinations it flies to and how frequently as the coronavirus pandemic continues to drag on demand, its chief executive officer said in a newspaper interview. Luis Gallego also told El Pais that Iberia, part of International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG.L), wants to extend a temporary layoff scheme for workers, known as ERTE, until December. "In Iberia, we will be smaller, but we will exist, something that it is not clear other airlines will be able to say," Gallego said in the interview, published on Sunday. "Smaller, unfortunately, with the capacity adapted to the demand. We will have fewer planes, fewer flights and fewer destinations." The Madrid-based airline has been losing 7 million euros per day as lockdowns to curb the spread of coronavirus have grounded planes, he said. Iberia will withdraw 17 Airbus A340-600 planes from its fleet, he said. Gallego, who will take over as chairman of IAG in September, said demand in the airline industry was not expected to return to 2019 levels until 2023 or 2024. In May, Iberia and Vueling, both part of IAG, secured 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) of government-backed loans to cope with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, which has tipped the airlines industry into its biggest ever crisis.

Karachi havariet - Mye bråk i kjølvannet - Curt Lewis

PK-8303 crash: Making heads roll


Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan has formally presented an initial, interim inquiry report in the National Assembly on the May 22 PIA's plane crash. This ill-fated flight PK-8303 crashed in Karachi last month, killing 97 people, including 8 crew members. The inquiry report primarily sees "human error" behind this deadly aviation disaster. It maintains that there was considerable negligence on the part of deceased pilots and Air Traffic Control (ATC) officials who blatantly ignored "standard protocols". It has also attributed this crash, inter alia, to pilots' "overconfidence and lack of focus". The minister also made some startling revelations about the "fake degrees" and "fake licenses" held by the country's commercial pilots.

The initial inquiry report, in fact, has somehow substantiated the provisional analyses made by certain aviation experts on the basis of available information soon after this unfortunate accident last month. Holding deceased pilots primarily responsible for this disaster, most of such experts made almost similar conclusions. Obviously, there have been a number of acts of commission and omission that eventually led to this fatal disaster. To begin with, the pilots of the plane were believed not to be fully focused since they remained busy in discussing the coronavirus pandemic throughout the flight. Secondly, these pilots tried to land with an unstabilised approach. They not only erred in maintaining such speed and height which is generally advised for a safe landing but also ignored the repeated warnings issued by the ATC about the plane's excessive height. They also chose to ignore the ATC's advice regarding making a "go-around" before landing. Making things worse, they unnecessarily switched from auto-landing to manual, undermining the plane's inbuilt safety mechanism.

The landing gears of the ill-destined plane remained a mystery throughout its landing fiasco. Inexplicably, the plane's landing gears were not open when it made its first landing attempt while the same were in an extended position when it crashed. It also appears to be another fault on pilot's part since there has been no evidence of the malfunction of the plane's landing gear system. Also, the decoding of the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) has indicated that the aircraft's system had made several warnings and alerts regarding its overspeed, ground proximity and landing gears which were wholly disregarded by the cabin crew. There is evidence that both engines of this plan just "scrubbed" the runway when it made its first attempt to land, with its landing gears retracted, making it lose both engines one by one. Unluckily, neither the pilots instantly realised this fact nor the ATC noticed it and communicated the same to the pilots to avoid this disaster.

We have seen the relatives of the plane's victims helplessly wandering around to find a clue about their loved ones aboard. They faced immense hardships in receiving and identifying the remains of their kith and kin. The government must have extended extraordinary cooperation and kindness to them since this disaster was the direct outcome of some sort of incompetence and negligence exhibited by one of its own agencies. Moreover, we also hardly observed any sincere and serious effort made by the Sindh government to rescue the plane's victims following this crash. There were mostly workers from some charitable NGOs on the site that were rescuing and providing ambulance services.

The aviation minister has admitted that almost 40 percent of pilots serving in the country's various commercial airlines have fake licenses. There have also been similar reports about a large number of pilots with fake degrees. However, despite the fact the apex court had taken up this case, and issued strict instructions to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to this effect, the civil aviation regulator didn't bother to seriously proceed against such pilots. Surely, this matter must have been taken seriously by the government since it would not only badly tarnish Pakistan's image internationally but also damage our troubled domestic aviation industry beyond repair.

The flight safety has always been paramount to the best airlines around the world. Most of such airlines have readily adopted state-of-the-art flight safety standards. Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) is one such system whereby the operational efficiency and flight safety are ensured by capturing and analysing the flight data of an airplane while it moves from one point to another. Through this system, any violation or deviation from any standard aviation protocol, can easily be detected and ratified. It is quite ironic that flight data in our country is monitored only in the event of an aircraft crash after securing a black box from the wreckage to inform the people about the "human error" responsible for such a crash.

The deceased pilots and ATC officials may be primarily responsible for PK-8303 crash. However, they should not be solely blamed for this disaster. I believe it was more of an institutional failure on the part of both the CAA and the PIA, which miserably failed in effectively ingraining a culture of accountability in the airline. Accountability generally signifies a particular characteristic of an individual or institution whereby they are held responsible and answerable for the performance of a particular function or task. 'Operant Conditioning' is one of the fundamental concepts in behavioural psychology. Significantly influenced by the well-known 'law of effect', this thesis establishes a causal relationship between any behaviour and its consequence. It maintains that the consequences of a particular behaviour determine whether such behaviour is likely to be repeated or not in future. Thus, rewards and punishments play a fundamental role in modifying human behaviour. Had the CAA or PIA evolved such a system of rewards and punishments, the deceased pilots and ATC officials may have not flouted the aviation safety protocols which eventually led to this deadly plane crash.

There should also be an across the board "purge" in the PIA to rid our national airline of all those who are responsible for damaging it. The airline's senior managers must also be removed for failing to avert PK-8303 crash besides their poor handling of the post-crash situation. PIA is like a patient who is clinically dead but still manages to survive through artificial respiration provided in the form of the government's extensive bailout packages. PIA is now essentially a public limited company. If PIA fails to become a viable and profitable company, it may be wound up like any inefficient public company under the Companies Act, 2017. The county's poor taxpayers should no longer be made to bear such a cumbersome burden.

Forsøker å vri seg unna vedlikeholdsskandale - Curt Lewis

 Maintenance firm clashes with inquiry over severe E190 loss-of-control incident

Portuguese maintenance firm OGMA has clashed with accident investigators over conclusions drawn from a serious Embraer 190 incident during which the aircraft departed with cross-rigged aileron cables, almost leading to the loss of the jet.

OGMA has strongly objected to several findings from investigation authority GPIAAF, arguing that the inquiry disproportionately assigns responsibility to the maintenance operation.

The Air Astana aircraft had taken off from Alverca do Ribatejo air base, bound for Minsk and Almaty, on 11 November 2018 after undergoing scheduled maintenance at OGMA's facilities.

But the cross-rigging of the ailerons left the crew struggling to control the jet's attitude, notably in the roll axis. Such was the severity of the situation that, at one point, the pilots sought to head for the sea in order to ditch, before they managed to regain a degree of control and eventually land.

The inquiry determined the improper aileron cable installation to be the probable cause of the incident, identifying lack of an effective safety-management system and inadequate independent procedures to detect maintenance escapes.

As part of the maintenance work the E190's aileron cables were disconnected, to be re-routed and replaced. But testing was delayed and personnel without relevant experience, who found the maintenance instructions difficult to follow, temporarily reconnected the cables.

GPIAAF states that the crossover error went undetected during extensive subsequent troubleshooting and testing.

Its inquiry mentions "weaknesses" in the aircraft's design - which had allowed the cables to be inverted - plus flaws in the presentation of the cable routing in maintenance publications, and it points out that the crew had not detected the improper aileron functioning during pre-flight checks.

But the conclusions over the maintenance work have triggered a sharp and extensive response from OGMA, running to 14 pages, which recognises that its technicians failed to install the aileron cables properly but which also claims that it is being unjustly singled out.

"The message conveyed by the report to any average reader is that only OGMA was at fault and that no other parties had any real contribution for the incident," it states. "That is inaccurate and incorrect and creates an unfair balance in the report."

OGMA claims it has been "heavily criticised" throughout the inquiry for not having fully implemented a safety-management system, and defends itself by stating that it is "not legally required to do so" - noting that such a measure is still under a rulemaking process, and is not likely to enforce such implementation until around 2022-23 at the earliest.

But it adds that it has "already started" implementing a safety-management system, ahead of any legal obligation, for which it says it "should be praised".

"Not being a legal requirement OGMA's [safety-management system] should not be a focus of the report and cannot be deemed to have had any impact whatsoever on the incident," it says.

OGMA has particularly brought up the fact that the aircraft's crew missed the opportunity to detect the maintenance blunder through the routine pre-flight control check.

It argues that a maintenance release to service is "not a certificate" for the aircraft's airworthiness and that the operator is the party responsible for ensuring the aircraft is in flying condition - with the crew particularly alert given that the jet had just come out of heavy maintenance.

"The aviation industry safety net is established in such way that the pilot-in-command is, by law, the ultimate [person] responsible for the safe operation of the aircraft," says OGMA.

It states that the crew is effectively the "last safety barrier" for preventing an accident.

"All things considered, in OGMA's view the crew's failure in detecting the ailerons misconfiguration during the [pre-flight check] is clearly less excusable than the [maintenance company's] failure in detecting the same problem during the maintenance operational checks," the company says.

It accuses the inquiry of "different treatment and assessment" of OGMA's operational checks compared with those of the crew, and that this is "unreasonable and clearly unfair".

OGMA also questions whether sufficient analysis was paid to the crew's handling of the severe flight-control problems, whether the aircraft's flight manual should have addressed the issue, and whether the pilots followed any procedures correctly.

Several other matters from the inquiry are brought up in the critique, some of which are "detrimental" to OGMA's reputation, the company insists.

Investigation authority GPIAAF says its task is not to assign blame or liability, in line with international standards, but it has included OGMA's comments to "ensure transparency", even though the inquiry had not sought opinions but rather comments on any factual errors.

GPIAAF has largely resisted responding to OGMA's comments, with the exception of a few notes for "clarification" where it believes the company has made "non-supported or biased statements" which were "clearly out of scope" in regards to the consultation process for the draft inquiry report.

Korona tiltak av det drastiske slaget - Italia - Curt Lewis

 Italy Bans Use Of Airplane Overhead Bins


We've seen all kinds of policies introduced to try and keep passengers safe when traveling by air. Some of these policies have been government mandated, while others have been introduced by airlines. Well, Italy as a country has just introduced a new rule for air passengers, which some airlines (and maybe passengers) will be very unhappy about.

Italy bans hand luggage on planes
As of this past Friday (June 26, 2020), Italy's National Civil Aviation Authority has banned the use of overhead bins for "health reasons." Passengers are allowed to bring small personal items onboard that can fit underneath the seat in front of them, but they can't use overhead bins.

This applies to both domestic and international flights, on both Italian and foreign airlines.

Overhead bins can no longer be used on flights to & from Italy

What's the logic for this policy?
The policy makes sense... kind of.

The idea is that when passengers place bags in the overhead bins there's a lot more crowding in the aisles, both during boarding and deplaning, which isn't great in terms of distancing.

Italian consumer association Codacons was in favor of this, saying that this would "avoid the chaos" that occurs during boarding:

"In this area, the Italians are among the most unruly travellers in Europe, causing delays and queues which today would fuel the risk of contagion."

Arguably there's another side to this, though. While it's true that people crowding in the aisles probably isn't ideal, the reality is that when checking bags you're increasing your touch points during the journey.

That's to say that you need to go to check-in to drop off your bag, more people will be touching your bag, you'll need to go to baggage claim, which is often crowded, etc.

I question whether banning carry-ons actually reduces exposure for passengers.

Passengers will now have to check all bags

Some airlines have issues with this policy
As you'd expect, some airlines have serious problems with Italy's policy. They're now required to allow passengers to check bags at no extra cost. Given that so many airlines in Europe have an ultra low cost business model, including a (forced) checked bag with a ticket isn't great in terms of ancillary revenue opportunities.

Ultra low cost carriers won't be happy about this

Bottom line
Italy is now banning use of the overhead bins onboard planes until further notice. This is in order to prevent people from crowding in the aisles onboard planes as much as possible. While I can appreciate that logic, on the other hand I'm not sure the benefit of that outweighs people lining up at check-in to check their bags, and people crowding at baggage claim.

Iran havariet og FDR/CVR som sendes Franikrike - Curt Lewis

Iran to hand over black boxes of downed Ukraine jet to France for analysis


Iran has requested help with repairing and downloading data from the Cockpit Voice Recorder and the Flight Data Recorder of the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752.

Iran told the U.N.'s aviation agency that it would send black boxes from a downed Ukrainian jetliner to Paris for analysis, once countries involved in the investigation agree.

The other countries involved are Ukraine, Canada and the United States. Canada previously pressed Iran to send the black boxes to France for analysis.

"An Iranian aviation team will transfer the black boxes to France and data extraction will begin on July 20, if nothing happens out of the ordinary," Mohsen Baharvand, the deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, was quoted as saying by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.

After initially denying any responsibility for the crash, Iranian officials were forced to admit that an IRGC air defence battery unintentionally shot down the airliner minutes after departing Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport amid heightened tensions with US forces in neighbouring Iraq.

Iran has requested help with repairing and downloading data from the Cockpit Voice Recorder and the Flight Data Recorder of the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, the Civil Aviation Safety Investigation Authority tweeted.

However, Iran has refused to hand over the flight recorders from the Ukraine International Airlines flight, which was shot down on January 8 near Tehran by an Iranian surface-to-air missile, killing 176 people including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents.

Pakistanske sertifikater - Curt Lewis

Pakistani pilots deny gov't claim of obtaining fake licenses KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) - A union of Pakistani pilots fired back Saturday at the country's aviation minister after he claimed that as many as 262 pilots working for state-run Pakistan International Airlines and other airlines obtained their pilot licenses by having others take exams for them. Capt. Chaudhry Salman, head of the Pakistan Airline Pilots' Association, told a news conference in Karachi that claims by aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan were false. Karachi is where a PIA plane crashed last month killing 97 people. "There is no truth in these allegations," he said. Salman acknowledged that 141 of his fellow pilots had been grounded by PIA a day earlier but said the pilots accused of obtaining "fake pilot licenses" were ready to defend themselves in any forum. Salman's comments came a day after Khan fired five aviation officials for their alleged involvement in a scandal in which pilot licences were allegedly awarded to people who had others take their exams. Khan said 141 PIA pilots whose licenses were tainted will not be allowed to fly. The allegations of cheating to obtain pilot licenses in Pakistan come in the wake of the May 22 crash of a PIA Airbus A320 in a residential area near Jinnah International Airport. There were only two survivors and a girl died on the ground. Salman's comments come days after Khan presented preliminary findings of an investigation into the A320 crash to Parliament. Khan on Wednesday told lawmakers that 262 out of 860 Pakistani pilots had "fake" licenses. He said out of these 262 pilots, 141 worked for PIA and the remainder were flying planes for private airline companies. The government has not said whether the pilot and co-pilot of the doomed Karachi flight had tainted licenses. It only said the two pilots were medically fit and experienced, while investigators say human error was behind the crash. Salman said 39 pilots out of the 262 accused of obtaining fake pilot licenses had either died or retired years ago. He said the validity of the licenses and degrees of the pilot and co-plot who were flying the doomed flight PK-8303 were beyond any doubt. Salman revealed that an investigation into the alleged "fake licenses" of scores of pilots had started two years ago and had not been completed when the crash took place and Khan leveled baseless allegations against them. He requested the country's judiciary appoint an independent commission to probe allegations against the pilots.

Vietnam grounds Pakistani pilots over licence concerns HANOI (Reuters) - Vietnam's aviation authority said on Monday it had grounded all Pakistani pilots working for local airlines, amid concern from global regulators that some pilots may have been using "dubious" licences. Pakistan said last week it will ground 262 airline pilots whose credentials may have been falsified, after global airlines body IATA said that irregularities found in pilot licences at Pakistan International Airlines represent a "serious lapse" in safety controls. "The head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has ordered a suspension for all Pakistani pilots working for Vietnamese airlines," the CAAV said in a statement on Monday. The suspension will be in effect until further notice from CAAV, it said, adding that the authority is coordinating with Pakistani authorities to review the pilots' profiles. Vietnam had licensed 27 Pakistani pilots, and 12 of them were still active, while the other 15 pilots' contracts had expired or were inactive due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the CAAV. Of the 12 active pilots, 11 were working for budget airlines Vietjet Aviation and one for Jetstar Pacific, a unit of the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines. Vietnam Airlines and Bamboo Airways were not using any pilots from Pakistan, the CAAV said. Vietnamese airlines currently have 1,260 pilots, with nearly half of them holding foreign citizenship, according to the CAAV.

MAX begynner på kritiske tester i forbindelse med sertifisering - Curt Lewis

Le Bourget 2017 - Foto: Per Gram

Boeing 737 MAX certification flight tests to begin on Monday - sources

SEATTLE/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pilots and test crew members from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing Co are slated to begin a three-day certification test campaign for the 737 MAX on Monday, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The test is a pivotal moment in Boeing's worst-ever corporate crisis, long since compounded by the novel coronavirus pandemic that has slashed air travel and jet demand.

The grounding of the fast-selling 737 MAX in March 2019 after two crashes in five months killed 346 people in Ethiopia and Indonesia triggered lawsuits, investigations by Congress and the Department of Justice and cut off a key source of Boeing's cash.


The FAA confirmed to U.S. lawmakers on Sunday that an agency board had completed a review of Boeing's safety system assessment for the 737 MAX "clearing the way for flight certification testing to begin. Flights with FAA test pilots could begin as early as tomorrow, evaluating Boeing's proposed changes to the automated flight control system on the 737 MAX."

After a preflight briefing over several hours, the crew will board a 737 MAX 7 outfitted with test equipment at Boeing Field near Seattle, one of the people said.

The crew will run methodically scripted mid-air scenarios such as steep-banking turns, progressing to more extreme maneuvers on a route primarily over Washington state. The plan over at least three days could include touch-and-go landings at the eastern Washington airport in Moses Lake, and a path over the Pacific Ocean coastline, adjusting the flight plan and timing as needed for weather and other factors, one of the people said.

Pilots will also intentionally trigger the reprogrammed stall-prevention software known as MCAS faulted in both crashes, and aerodynamic stall conditions, the people said.

Boeing declined to comment.

The FAA email said the testing will last several days and "will include a wide array of flight maneuvers and emergency procedures to enable the agency to assess whether the changes meet FAA certification standards."

It added the "FAA has not made a decision on return to service" and has a number of additional steps before it can clear the plane to do so.

The rigors of the test campaign go beyond previous Boeing test flights, completed in a matter of hours on a single day, industry sources say.

The tests are meant to ensure new protections Boeing added to MCAS are robust enough to prevent the scenario pilots encountered before both crashes, when they were unable to counteract MCAS and grappled with "stick shaker" column vibrations and other warnings, one of the people said.

Boeing's preparation has included hundreds of hours inside a 737 MAX flight simulator at its Longacres facility in Renton, Washington, and hundreds of hours in the air on the same 737 MAX 7 test airplane without FAA officials on board.

At least one of those practice flights included the same testing parameters expected on Monday, one of the people said.

After the flights, FAA officials in Washington and the Seattle-area will analyze reams of digital and paperwork flight test data to assess the jet's airworthiness.

Likely weeks later, after the data is analyzed and training protocols are firmed up, FAA Administrator Steve Dickson, a former F-15 fighter pilot who has promised the 737 MAX will not be approved until he has personally signed off on it, will board the same plane to make his assessments, two of the people said.

If all goes well, the FAA would then need to approve new pilot training procedures, among other reviews, and would not likely approve the plane's ungrounding until September, the people said.

That means the jet is on a path to resume U.S. service before year-end, though the process has been plagued by delays for more than a year.

"Based on how many problems have been uncovered, I would be stunned if the flight tests are 'one and done,'" said another person with knowledge of the flight plans.

Regulators in Europe and Canada, while working closely with the FAA, will also conduct their own assessments and have pinpointed concerns that go beyond the FAA. They may require additional changes after the 737 MAX is cleared to return to service.

"This is new territory," said one industry source with knowledge of prior Boeing tests. "There's a lot more play between regulators, and certainly a lot more pressure and public attention."

Boeing Finally Admits That Aircraft Demand Is Basically Zero


The aerospace giant has dramatically reduced its 2020 production plans for the 737 MAX.

Six months ago -- before the COVID-19 pandemic -- Boeing (NYSE:BA) announced that it would suspend 737 MAX production in January. Its top-selling plane had been grounded since March 2019, following a pair of fatal accidents. Due to Boeing's decision to continue building the 737 MAX while waiting for regulators to recertify the model, the company had built up an inventory of about 400 undelivered 737 MAX jets and was running out of places to store them.

Since then, aircraft demand has plummeted, as the COVID-19 pandemic caused global air travel to dry up. Nevertheless, Boeing restarted 737 MAX production in late May, with plans to ramp up output gradually over the remainder of the year.

Given that few (if any) airlines want new planes right now, this decision didn't make much sense. It didn't take long for Boeing to come to its senses, though. Recently, the company told a major 737 MAX supplier to virtually halt production again.

Boeing and a key supplier manage output
Spirit AeroSystems (NYSE:SPR) is arguably the most important supplier to the 737 MAX program. The company (which was spun off from Boeing in 2005) builds the fuselage for each 737 MAX, along with other components like engine pylons and thrust reversers.

For most of 2019, Spirit AeroSystems built 737 MAX shipsets at a rate of 52 per month: even after Boeing reduced its own output to 42 per month. However, once Boeing decided to suspend 737 MAX production temporarily in 2020, it was clear that Spirit would have to slow its production rate. In early February, the partners agreed that Spirit AeroSystems would deliver 216 737 MAX shipsets to Boeing during 2020: an average of just 18 per month. This was part of a broader plan to restart production ahead of an expected mid-year recertification of the 737 MAX.

At that time, most people had no idea that COVID-19 would turn into a global pandemic. As global air travel plummeted in the following months, it became obvious that Boeing's production plans (and, by extension, Spirit's production plans) were unrealistic.

This forced the companies to renegotiate their production agreement. In early May, Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems agreed that the latter would deliver a total of 125 737 MAX shipsets during 2020, including some that had already been delivered.

Production estimates are plunging again
The International Air Transport Association currently estimates that global passenger air traffic will remain more than 25% below 2019 levels in 2021. With demand depressed to that extent, most airlines have far more aircraft than they will need over the next year. Some carriers are still willing to take new jets for one reason or another, but Boeing has less leverage than Airbus for forcing customers to take the aircraft they have ordered. Delivery delays mean that many 737 MAX buyers have the right to cancel certain orders.

As a result, Boeing has finally realized that its plan for a slow ramp-up in 737 MAX production this year was still too aggressive in light of demand. Earlier this month, Spirit AeroSystems announced that on June 4, Boeing had directed it to pause work on four 737 MAX shipsets and avoid starting work on 16 others. Spirit said that it expected that Boeing would ultimately tell it to reduce 2020 output by more than the 20 shipsets affected by the June 4 letter.

Sure enough, Spirit AeroSystems revealed last week that it will now build just 72 shipsets for the 737 program in 2020, of which 35 have already been delivered. This implies a significant cut to Boeing's own production plans for the next six months.


Another warning sign
Entering this year, Boeing stock traded for more than $300. In the "panic" phase of the COVID-19 market sell-off, the stock briefly crashed below the $100 mark, but it recovered strongly in late May and early June. Even after a recent pullback, Boeing shares have been trading for around $170, putting the company's market cap near $100 billion.

At that price, Boeing isn't a good stock for investors to buy. The aerospace giant burned $4.7 billion of cash in the first quarter, and cash burn could accelerate in the near term as Boeing starts to feel the full impact of the pandemic. While the company recently issued $25 billion of bonds, giving it plenty of liquidity for the foreseeable future, that new debt has pushed its total borrowings to nearly $64 billion.

Looking ahead, Boeing will continue to incur massive costs related to the 737 MAX crashes and the subsequent grounding. It also appears that foreign regulators will demand costly design changes. Meanwhile, Boeing may need to increase financial support to critical suppliers to ensure that they're still around when it wants to ramp up production again.

In short, the pain is just beginning for Boeing. Unless the stock price falls significantly or air travel demand quickly recovers to near 2019 levels, this is one stock investors should avoid.

B737-800 traff brannbil som hilste flyet med "vannsalutt" - Curt Lewis

 Boeing 737-82R (WL) - Ground Collision (Turkey)

Date:	27-JUN-2020
Time:	c. 08:30 UTC
Type:	Boeing 737-82R (WL)
Owner/operator:	Corendon Airlines
Registration:	TC-TJR
C/n / msn:	40723/3622
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants:
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	None
Location:	Kayseri Erkilet International Airport (ASR/LTAU) -    Turkey
Phase:	Taxi
Nature:	International Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport:	Stuttgart-Echterdingen Airport (STR/EDDS)
Destination airport:	Kayseri Erkilet International Airport (ASR/LTAU)

Narrative:
A Corendon Airlines Boeing 737-800 knocked over the spray turret on an ARFF fire truck as it taxied to the apron after landing. The fire truck was positioned to the right of the taxiway and was giving the aircraft a traditional water salute.
The aircraft was operating the first post-Corona flight from Stuttgart.

GA ulykke med rapport fra SHT

Rapport om luftfartsulykke i sjøen ca. 11 NM syd for Mandal 22. juni 2019 med Piper PA-28-161, operert av Sola flyklubb

Politiet anmodet Flytjenesten i Norges Luftsportforbund om å søke etter en antatt omkommet person i sjøen syd for Mandal. LN-MTJ, en Piper PA-28-161 stasjonert på Sola, tok av fra Kjevik kl. 1217 og satte kurs mot det tildelte søkeområdet. Etter en kort søkeperiode mistet motoren effekt. Selv om fartøysjefen klarte å starte motoren igjen, kunne det ikke forhindre at flyet traff sjøen ca. kl. 1300.
Les hele rapporten

Airbus og automatiseringsprosjektet ATTOL - Airbus

Airbus concludes ATTOL with fully autonomous flight tests

#autonomy #innovation #TheFutureOfFlight

Toulouse, 29 June 2020 – Following an extensive two-year flight test programme, Airbus has successfully concluded its Autonomous Taxi, Take-Off and Landing (ATTOL) project.

In completing this project, Airbus has achieved autonomous taxiing, take-off and landing of a commercial aircraft through fully automatic vision-based flight tests using on-board image recognition technology - a world-first in aviation.

In total, over 500 test flights were conducted. Approximately 450 of those flights were dedicated to gathering raw video data, to support and fine tune algorithms, while a series of six test flights, each one including five take-offs and landings per run, were used to test autonomous flight capabilities.

The ATTOL project was initiated by Airbus to explore how autonomous technologies, including the use of machine learning algorithms and automated tools for data labelling, processing and model generation, could help pilots focus less on aircraft operations and more on strategic decision-making and mission management. Airbus is now able to analyse the potential of these technologies for enhancing future aircraft operations, all the while improving aircraft safety, ensuring today’s unprecedented levels are maintained.

Airbus will continue research into the application of autonomous technologies alongside other innovations in areas such as materials, alternative propulsion systems and connectivity. By leveraging these opportunities, Airbus is opening up possibilities for creating new business models that will transform how aircraft are developed, manufactured, flown, powered and serviced.

The rapid development and demonstration of ATTOL’s capabilities was made possible due to a cross-divisional, cross-functional, global team comprising of Airbus engineering and technology teams, Airbus Defence and Space, Acubed (Project Wayfinder), Airbus China and ONERA under the leadership of Airbus UpNext.

* * *

To read more on ATTOL, please click here

For more information on UpNext please click here

Bloggen drar på tur - God sommer til mine lesere!

Målet er Vesterålen og Lofoten, og en del som ligger mellom der og Stavanger. Jeg håper å få audiens hos 333 skv., og at Smia åpner snart...… På veien skal jeg innom J.O. Lande i Tønsberg, Terje. B. Johansen i Holmestrand, Kjell Rivelsrud, også Holmestrand og Sverre Gran i Vestre Gausdal. Noen av disse kan være kjente av deg.
Noe oppdatering av bloggen blir det, men i et mye roligere tempo enn tidligere.

Andøya Airshow i juni, 2017 - Foto: Per Gram

Experimental havarerte i Australia - Australian Aviation

HOME-MADE OSPREY 2 THAT CRASHED INTO BACKYARD WAS ON THIRD FLIGHT

written by Adam Thorn
June 26, 2020

A home-built Osprey 2 that crashed into a NSW backyard in May, killing its pilot, was conducting only its third flight, an ATSB preliminary report has revealed.

Royal Newcastle Aero Club member Andy Shepherd, 44, tragically died after his amphibious aircraft, VH-WID, started spewing smoke just minutes after take-off from Maitland Airport at about 2,000 feet in the air.

The early preliminary report gave no hints as to what caused the crash in the Hunter region of NSW, but was able to shed light on the events of the day.

“The planned flight involved climbing to 3,000 feet to conduct flight-testing over the airfield,” said ATSB’s director of transport safety, Stuart Macleod.

SAS sier opp 560 flygere - Scandinavian Travel News / Curt Lewis

SAS sier opp 560 piloter

SAS sier opp 560 av sine piloter i Norge, Sverige og Danmark. Oppsigelsene er en del av flyselskapets spareplan, skriver SVT. 0   

By Tom Andersson on 26 juni 2020 Fly, Nyheter

SAS varslet i slutten av april at de må kutte staben med 5.000 ansatte, det vil si nesten halvparten av arbeidsstokken. Dette gjelder 1.300 ansatte i Norge, 1.900 i Sverige og 1.700 i Danmark.

Tidligere denne måneden ble det kjent at 350 kabinansatte ble rammet av oppsigelser. Ifølge den svenske TV-kanalen er det pilotene som nå blir rammet.

Selskapet kvitter seg med 560 piloter i Norge, Sverige og Danmark.

Årsaken er at flyselskapet ble hardt rammet av koronakrisen. Blant annet ble antall avganger fra svenske flyplasser i mai redusert med 98 prosent, sammenlignet med samme måned i fjor.

Svensk pilotforening mener flyselskapet har valgt å gå løs på oppsigelser før man har sett på andre alternativer. Blant annet peker de på at situasjonen kan se annerledes ut når pilotenes oppsigelsestid er ute.

– Mange av pilotene har lange oppsigelsestider. Hvordan kan SAS vite hvordan situasjonen ser ut om et halvt år, når pilotene forlater selskapet? sier leder for pilotforeningen Martin Lindgren til SVT.

I midten av juni bekreftet SAS at de vil øke kapasiteten med ti fly i juli, fra 30 til 40. Men kapasiteten er fortsatt bare på 30 prosent sammenlignet med samme måned i fjor. Flyselskapet sa da at de vil fly til flere feriedestinasjoner i Spania, samt til Frankrike, Hellas og Kroatia fra Gardermoen i juli.

Pressesjef John Eckhoff i SAS utelukket da heller ikke at de kan få nye utvidelser til flere destinasjoner i løpet av sommeren fra alle de tre skandinaviske landene.

SVT har forsøkt å komme i kontakt med SAS for en kommentar, men ikke fått svar.

SAS Airlines Lays Off 560 Pilots Amid Pandemic


After letting go 350 cabin crew earlier this month, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) has terminated the contracts of 560 pilots in Sweden, Denmark and Norway in a bid to save costs amid pandemic. First reported by the Swedish national public television broadcaster SVT News, the affected crew will be notified by June 30.

Although details as to the layoffs have not been revealed, The first area likely to be affected will be pilots flying its Boeing fleet. In 2018, SAS announced an order of 50 more A320neos to replace all 737NGs in service as part of its goal to have an all-Airbus fleet by 2023 when the airline will have at least 80 Airbus A320neos in service. The airline currently operates 21 B737-700 and 26 B737-800 which will be removed from the fleet to create a single-type fleet.

The Swedish Pilots Association believes that the airline has chosen to proceed with redundancies before considering other alternatives. Among other things, it points out that the situation may look different when the pilots' notice period is over.

"Many of the pilots have long notice periods. How can SAS know what the situation looks like in six months ahead after the pilots have left the company?" said Martin Lindgren, chairman of the association.

At the end of April, SAS announced that it had to cut its workforce by 5,000 employees, i.e. almost half of the company's total employees, which corresponds to 1,300 employees in Norway, 1,900 in Sweden and 1,700 in Denmark.

"COVID-19 has forced SAS to face a new and unprecedented reality that will reverberate not only in the coming months, but also during the coming years. In order to continue this important societal function, we need to adapt our cost base to the prevailing circumstances. Regretfully, we are forced to adapt our workforce to lower passenger demand," said Rickard Gustafson, CEO SAS.

Hit hard by the novel coronavirus crisis, the airline battles to ensure its survival. Among other things, the flag carrier for the three countries has been most affected by the unprecedented slump in demand for air travel, pandemic-related restrictions and lockdowns. To give a striking example, the number of departures from Swedish airports in May slumped by 98% compared with the same period last year.

Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the airline had more than 800 daily departures operated by a fleet of 156 aircraft including the brand new Airbus A350-900s. In mid-June, SAS confirmed that it will increase capacity by ten aircraft in July, from 30 to 40. However, capacity will still be only at 30% compared to June 2019.

Additionally, Scandinavian struggles to reimburse passengers for canceled flights. The company owes customers approximately $725 million. The flights that were canceled in March are expected to be reimbursed in June, whereas the ones that had to be canceled in April and May will be compensated in September. SAS press manager John Eckhoff assured customers that they will receive a refund, "if they wish." He pointed out that SAS has been granted $340 million government aid in Sweden and Denmark, adding that they were working on a plan to raise capital.

SAS Will Fly to 95 Destinations in Summer
As demand and interest in travel in Europe increase, SAS resumes seven new routes from Copenhagen. Last week, the airline unveiled its flight schedule for July. The airline said that it saw a rise in demand and interest for travel in Europe following the partial lifting of coronavirus restrictions in Europe. With the demand slowly increasing once again, the airline is boosting the frequency of flights on many routes and resuming services to seven destinations, including popular tourist hotspots in Italy and France.

In July, SAS will fly to an additional seven destinations from Copenhagen including long haul destinations such as San Francisco, Chicago and New York. The airline will operate scheduled flights to 95 destinations as of July, corresponding to approximately 75% of its network. The airline will gradually add more destinations from Norway, Sweden and Denmark as demand returns.

SAS operates flights to, from and within Scandinavia. The airline, which has a fleet of 156 aircraft, connects three main hubs - Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm - with over 125 destinations in Europe, the US and Asia.

Statlig subsidierte flyruter i Norge forlenges - Regjeringen

Minimumsnivået for flytilbudet i Norge forlenges til 31. august

Pressemelding | Dato: 25.06.2020

| Nr: 103/20

–Det er fortsatt krevende tider i luftfarten, og selv om trafikken ser ut til å ta seg opp er det nødvendig at staten sikrer et godt flytilbud gjennom kjøp av flyruter. Derfor forlenger vi avtalen med flyselskapene om et grunnleggende tilbud i hele landet. Jeg er samtidig glad for at flyselskapene nå også setter opp ruter også på kommersielt grunnlag, og at vi dermed ser at behovet for statlig kjøp av flyruter i tiden framover blir mindre, sier samferdselsminister Knut Arild Hareide.

Da konsekvensene av virusutbruddet svekket det kommersielle grunnlaget for personflytrafikk i Norge, inngikk Samferdselsdepartementet avtaler med de tre flyselskapene Widerøe, SAS og Norwegian om et grunnleggende tilbud av flytransport mellom regionene og enkelte lokale ruter. Avtalene ble inngått 25. mars og hadde opprinnelig varighet til 31. mai. Disse ble forlenget til 30. juni. Nå har departementet inngått nye avtaler med flyselskapene, med varighet til 31. august.

Styrker tilbudet på enkelte ruter – og  noen ruter tas ut av kjøpetFra 1. juli tas rutene fra Oslo til Trondheim, Bergen og Stavanger ut av kjøpet, og fra 16. juli trer de nye avtalene i kraft. De nye avtalene innebærer noen rutejusteringer, og en nedtrapping av det statlige tilskuddet. Flyselskapene rapporterer om bedre bookingtall på enkelte ruter, og det reduserer behovet for statlig støtte. Foruten på de tyngste stamrutene ser vi at selskapene nå setter inn kapasitet for sommerturismen mellom nord og sør. På enkelte ruter styrker staten kjøpet.

– Vi er spesielt opptatt av å sikre et tilfredsstillende tilbud for pasientreiser og næringsliv der folk bor. Derfor styrker vi nå tilbudet mellom Stokmarknes og Bodø med to ekstra rundturer de kommende ukene. Fra 17.august vil det være to daglige rundturer fra Stokmarknes til både Bodø og Tromsø for å sikre at folk kommer seg til viktige avtaler på sykehus, sier Hareide.

Evenes – Oslo blir også styrket med én ekstra rundtur. Fra 1. juli vil det for øvrig være normal sommerproduksjon på FOT-rutene.

Flyruter som forlengesHer følger oversikt over flyruter som er en del av tilbudet.

SAS og Norwegian flyr følgende ruter:

Rute	Min. ant. daglige rundturer	Dager/uke	Antall rundturer/uke
Kristiansand – Oslo	2	6	12
Haugesund – Oslo	2	6	12
Ålesund – Oslo	2	6	12
Molde – Oslo	2	6	12
Kristiansund – Oslo	2	6	12
Bodø – Oslo	3	6	18
Evenes – Oslo	3	6	18
Bardufoss – Oslo	2	6	12
Tromsø – Oslo	3	6	18
Alta – Oslo	2	6	12
Kirkenes – Oslo	2	6	12
Tromsø – Longyearbyen	1	6	6
Trondheim – Bodø – Tromsø	2	6	24

 

Widerøe flyr følgende ruter:

Rute	Min. ant. daglige rundturer	Dager/uke	Antall rundturer/uke
Oslo – Florø	2	6	12
Bergen – Florø	2	6	12
Oslo – Ørsta/Volda	2	6	12
Kristiansand – Bergen	2	6	12
Stokmarknes – Bodø	4	6	24
Tromsø – Vadsø	2	6	12
Tromsø – Hammerfest	2	6	12
Tromsø – Alta	2	6	12
Tromsø – Kirkenes	2	6	12

 

Fra 17. august

Rute	Min. daglige rundturer	Dager/uke	Antall rundturer/uke
Oslo – Florø	2	6	12
Bergen – Florø	2	6	12
Oslo – Ørsta/Volda	2	6	12
Kristiansand – Bergen	2	6	12
Stokmarknes – Bodø	2	6	12
Stokmarknes – Tromsø	2	6	12
Tromsø – Vadsø	2	6	12
Tromsø – Hammerfest	2	6	12
Tromsø – Alta	2	6	12
Tromsø – Kirkenes	2	6	12